Lodi woman pleads not guilty to allegedly hiring hitman to kill father of her children

A Lodi woman pleaded not guilty Friday in state Superior Court in Paterson to allegedly hiring a hitman to kill the father of their three children, who sat in the courtroom with a sobbing daughter.

Mirtha Marchena-Chavez, 36, was arrested Tuesday after a joint investigation by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and Passaic Police Department, authorities said.

According to authorities, Marchena-Chavez tried to arrange a down payment for the murder of her children’s father, identified in court as Guillermo Piedra.

On Tuesday, detectives staked out a location in Garfield where Marchena-Chavez was under surveillance as she allegedly paid the hitman $400 and gave him a photo of Piedra, assistant prosecutor Neil Cleary said.

Marchena-Chavez allegedly provided the hitman with detailed instructions on where and how the attack was to take place, as well as the proof that was to be delivered to her before she would pay the hitman the balance of the contract. Authorities have not said if the hitman was an undercover officer or how police learned about the alleged plot.

Marchena-Chavez is charged with conspiracy to attempt to commit murder. She is being held in the Passaic County jail on $500,000 bail.

She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in state prison and, as an illegal immigrant from Peru, deportation would be a “virtual certainty” if she is convicted, Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark said.

Marchena-Chavez asked Clark if her children could visit her while she is in jail.

“I’d like to know if I could see the children. The children have always been with me,” Marchena-Chavez said through an interpreter. Piedra and a daughter sat to her left in the middle of the courtroom.

Clark said she would review the request and decide in two weeks. “I’m sure it’s very difficult for the children,” she said.